GTA V iFruit vs BBM, importance of Android app popularity

Android users are getting somewhat annoyed of late because they are still waiting for BBM and GTA V iFruit apps to release, and as of yet there is no solid evidence of when this will happen.

The two apps mentioned above are what Android users want the most, but we want to look into the importance of these Android apps. BBM for Android is apparently now in the beta testing stage according to one of our readers who claims he is one of the testers, we cannot disclaim this as he could be telling the truth. Our reader also said that BBM Android app release could happen at the end of this month.

It does seem to be taking a while to release the BBM app for Android and iOS users, and the delay is apparently down to fake BBM apps being released on the Google Play Store.

As of yet there is no release schedule set for the BBM Android app, no announcement has been made, which means the waiting game will have to continue. I have no idea why it is so important to have BBM on the Android platform, if BBM is so important then why did you not just go and get a BlackBerry smartphone? There are so many apps that are just as good as BlackBerry Messenger that do not need the dreaded PIN, Android users have managed all this time without the BBM app so why the big rush to want it so bad now?

There will always be banter when it comes to Android and iOS users, one of our readers said that Android users are just kids and they will just moan about everything. We here at Phones Review will always sit on the fence; we do not pass judgement because everyone is entitled to an opinion.

Now moving onto the GTA V iFruit Android app release, as we all know iOS device owners are sitting there happily using this application, and this has infuriated Android users. Android users are so angry with RockStar, and the need for this app to be released onto the Play Store is evident by all the comments coming in. One of our articles last week had 120 comments, and it clear to say Android users are very angry indeed.

Why do Android users want this app so bad?
Rockstar did say that the iFruit app is coming soon to Android, but it does not help when many comments come in from Apple users bragging that they have the GTA V iFruit app, saying that the features are brilliant especially the pet companion Chop the dog. In a way it is like rubbing salt into the wound, some have said that it is a conspiracy and that Apple paid Rockstar.

We do not get the name iFruit, was it supposed to be a way to advertise Apple products without using the official name, or was Rockstar just poking fun at Apple? It could be a little like ‘Lifeinvader’ in GTA V that OSM discussed, which we know has Facebook references and the ability to assassinate a Mark Zuckerberg lookalike.

Some say the GTA V iFruit app is important because it allows you to train Chop, this means Android users cannot do this because the app has not been released to them yet. If you cannot train Chop you cannot find things, many GTA V gamers have said there is no real need for the app because they 100% completed the game, Phones Review are not gamers so we will let you comment on this one.

Should GTA V gamers get a refund?
This is a tricky one, the reason we say this is like we said above one Android user said they have 100% completed the game and they and that none of what is on the app is required. Another Phones Reader said that Trading Standards to him that he should ask for a refund because the game is incomplete without the app, not game should be sold if it is not complete without an app. Phones Review will look into this, we will notify you more when we learn more.

Do gamers deserve a refund when games fail?
Android users are disappointed because they have purchased GTA V, and the need for the app to complete the game is somewhat debatable. Rockstar surely knew that Android users would bite back, they should have released the iFruit app the same time iOS users got it.

We have seen a petition over on the Care 2 Petition Site titled “Gamers Deserve Refunds When Online Games Fail!” so far it has 59,290 signatures. This is where gamers can demand refunds when they feel they have been cheated.

GTA V iFruit vs BBM, importance of Android app popularity
It seems GTA V iFruit Android app is more important than the BBM Android app based on the responses from our readers, we will ask you one simple question — What do you want more, GTA V iFruit app or the BBM app?

I work at a Bestbuy, if anyone tried to return a copy of GTA 5 because an APP wasn’t released for their mobile platform we wouldn’t accept it.
As harsh as it sounds, the app DOES NOT have to be released if Rockstar doesn’t want to. There’s no point threatening to return the game.

Who buys games from Best Buy??? But thats neither here nor there. We gamers can assault Rockstar without asking for a refund. From now on we can buy and sell their games used and refrain from buying DLC and BOOM. Rockstar makes 80% of the profit from DLC, and they make 20-30% of the profit from NEW game sales. ROCKSTAR does not get a penny from used game sales. That goes to the reseller.

So Ill get my refund by selling used, and I can prevent them from getting any more money :)) Kinda like how I keep my money out of BestBuy due to their employees with sub par intellect…no offense.

Without the simultaneous release of the iFruit app on both iTunes and the Play Store, Rockstar have given iPhone users the unfair advantage of choosing the best custom licence plates for vehicles in GTA Online as well as leaving all android users without a trained attack dog and a huge pile of uncleanable dog crap in the garden. Why Rockstar decided to use apps in the 1st place rather than either in game interaction or a web based way of doing the tasks is simply beyond me.
They must have known they would get ripped apart, not only from Android users, but the thousands of people who don’t have a smart phone or no data plan.

As far as the game itself goes. Yes, they have made a fantastic improvement over the previous GTA installment however, a lack of interactive things to do in single player mode where it could have easily been implemented feels some how lazy and makes the game feel incomplete.

In the past, GTA has allowed us to play in multiple casinos, drive inside an entire shopping mall, hijack a train, even use RC vehicle’s and yet none of this is present in GTA 5 even though the radio stations and corner shops advertise the Lottery, theres a huge casino AND a horse racing track.
I also can’t understand why they didn’t port the horse’s from RDR since they spent so much tome and money getting the animations just right for them.

It’s a good game but leaves you feeling like they rushed it towards the end in favour of getting GTA Online.

I will say that you may need the app but its not right to market to one group of people either but I’m in a coral with apple anyways so I guess my thoughts may come across one sided. To be honest I believe that apple has taken advantage of an opportunity to corner a market… In the end it all amounts to money just like gta v proves anyway you can make a buck.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say “the game is incomplete without the app”. The app is a bonus, it has extra material that wouldn’t be otherwise found in the game and is not necessary to the progression of the game. I’m not sure that people who have played the game to 100% completion deserve a full refund simply on the basis of a lack of bonus material that was not promised to them at launch and that many players probably didn’t know about until after they had purchased the game in the first place.

With that said, I understand (and share) the outrage. It’s not about gamers being deprived of a critical game component, it’s about showing favoritism to a company at the expense of the consumer. While it is not a necessary app, it does provide those eligible with an advantage, and the fact that they are given access to a time-sensitive feature (personalized license plates) reinforces the disappointment that Rockstar did not wait to release the apps simultaneously. This is typical of big companies, to jump on the iBandwagon. (Has anyone watched Dexter lately? It’s like walking in to the world’s biggest Starbucks.) I hope that eventually companies will realize that catering to the majority of the market will help them more than trying to make their products look “premium” by association.

I have an Xperia z. Decided to borrow my gf iPhone today, the chops game is annoying. The best thing is personalized number plate. We’re not missing much. It is annoying that I have nearly completed the game and no news on app

android users getting mad over apps taking a long time to reach android,

welcome to our (windows phone user’s) world, you get all of the good apps like candy crush, a actual youtube app and even a official playstation app, what does windows phone have? a pants app store where these apps are nonexistant and will never come to it most likely

That’s a good point, and for some reason, Google, who makes lots of great apps, doesn’t really develop for Windows phone. Most of their apps are Android and iOS only, which is strange because Microsoft develops for Android. In fact, Skype is *better* on Android, and there are even one or two exclusives made by Microsoft that are on Android and NOT Windows Phone. I don’t get it.

As annoyed as I am every couple days when I open up the Play Store to discover nothing but fake apps (malware and spam app developers are just LOVING this situation, by the way), it doesn’t detract from the core gameplay in any significant way. I don’t feel like the value of GTA V has been reduced, much less reduced to the point where a refund would be even remotely justified.

Indeed, the features of the app seem to have as little impact on core gameplay as the relationship minigames of GTA IV (which everyone hated, need I remind anyone?) and in the case of vehicles, is almost entirely cosmetic or provides alternate access to functionality already present in the game itself.

Yes, I’m annoyed. Yes, Rockstar dropped the ball. No, there’s no justification for demanding a refund for the rest of the game over this piddling feature.

I don’t care about BBM whatsoever but I’ll let people who are looking for such an app say what they wish about that. As far as iFruit, it doesn’t bother me a ton not having it – GTA5 is already a great game, and I don’t think Rockstar ever guaranteed that the app would be out at game launch. I also don’t see the refund thing – the app is nowhere near important enough in itself to warrant that, and while the Multiplayer was a mess on launch, with a game this popular that is to be expected, and Rockstar’s fix for it was fairly prompt. Not to mention that unlike, say, SimCity, the fact that Online didn’t work on launch (in fact it launched separately altogether) didn’t prevent users from accessing the rest of the game.

With all this said, I’d still call it a stupid (and yes, somewhat annoying) move on the part of Rockstar. I can’t think of any reason why they would do this, especially considering Android has a larger market share. Unless Rockstar went through lots of demographics and statistics and found that a higher percentage of Apple users would likely have the game versus Android, this just simply was an idiotic move.

I love Rockstar, however; they had 5 years in between games to make sure that the iFruit App worked with Android. Online issues are acceptable considering the game sold more than expected.

We went through the same crap earlier this year with the release of GTA: Vice City 10th Anniversary Edition. Apple got it first and then there were “glitches” that made Rockstar delay Android users for a week or so.

Are they doing it intentionally? Who knows.

I’m sorry to say Apple people, but Anrdoid is the dominant operating system among smart phones. It may only be by a little, but from a business standpoint, Rockstar is shooting themselves in the foot by not tapping into quite frankly their biggest market.

If Rockstar can learn anything from this, it is to make sure that Android is well taken care of equally. If not, people WILL begin to vote with their wallet.

Apple knows that Android has the greater market share, and they also know that Rockstar games can sway a very large chunk of income. They paid Rockstar for what is known as a “timed exclusive”, which is, they release it on all platforms, but Apple gets it first and exclusively for a limited time. Rockstar benefits from extra cash, Apple benefits from increased popularity for their platform (although in this case, I can’t see who is going to buy a multi-hundred dollar iDevice simply for a couple of what essentially amounts to mini-games). This is not unheard of in the gaming industry, and is by no means rare. I can almost guarantee that the Android and Windows Mobile and every other version of the iFruit app is already made and waiting to be published, but they have to wait for the timed exclusive to end.

On the other hand, developing for Android is a LOT more difficult and time-consuming than developing for Apple, due to the huge variety of different hardware and OS versions (and custom proprietary carrier/manufacturer overlays on top of the OSs). For clarity, this is all coming from someone (me) who is an avid Android supporter, who also owns GTA V and is very much anticipating the iFruit app to get the full playing experience. But I get it.

BTW, the iFruit name is a deliberate shot at Apple, just like how just about every other brand name in the game is a joke, whether based on a real product (iFruit/Drone/Facade, Coquette, LifeInvader, Merryweather) or simply making fun of itself (GrÃ¼ppe-Sechs, Liquor Ace, Ammu-nation).

Finally, for a published article, this contains some of the worst grammar and most awkward sentence constructions that I’ve ever seen.

About us

Phonesreview.co.uk, obviously as the name suggests is a site dedicated around the news of the present day Mobile Phones. Handsets have gone through an entire reformation, from the old chunky mobile phones to new world of hybrid devices such as SmartPhones and PDAs. Phones Review reports about all the hottest announcements, launches and ongoing developments in the world of the portable electronic mobile devices.